As the Atlanta Regional Commission’s environmental planning chief, Pat Stevens has had a front-row seat for 21 years as Alabama, Florida and Georgia have waged legal battles over Lake Lanier’s water.

At stake for Florida are its seafood industry and agricultural interests, while Alabama’s fight centers around power generation and economic growth. But Stevens knew Georgia had something the courts could not ignore: “We have 3 million people using this system; we are not going to go away.”

The monumental ruling last week in the tri-state water war was a practical decision, she said. The federal appeals court simply formalized what has been going on for years.

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